the stray cat
by snobunniex3
Summary: When a stray cat mysteriously shows up in the leverage apartment(boston) Nate wants to know who brought it in. this is him figuring it out. one-shot drabble


Another leverage one-shot to ease my boredom and prolong my procrastination. This is just a silly drabble about the team adopting a stray cat. Based off a headcannon I saw about the team adopting a cat and Eliot secretly liking it but denying it all the time. Let me know what you think about! Seriously, I love reviews, they make my day!

Disclaimer: I do not own leverage.

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They had a cat. How the hell had they adopted a cat? Nate sat at his table, ignoring the papers in front of him for a much more complicated problem than the corrupt CEO he had decided was their next target, and watch Parker and playing with the cat.

The cat was an old tom cat, used to living outdoors and getting into fights; one ear was missing a piece and Nate was pretty sure he was at least partially deaf. Nate had seen the cat outside the bar a few times but hadn't put much thought towards the stray. Apparently someone else on the team had.

The cat had been here for a week now and Nate still didn't know who had brought it in. It, or rather Toulouse (he didn't know where Parker had come up with that name either), had been sitting on the couch last Tuesday when they all came in. Parker squealed, Sophie sighed, Hardison grinned, Eliot growled, and Nate closed his eyes, counted to ten, and tried to convince Parker that, _No, they could not keep the stray._ He lost that battle. And he still didn't know who had brought the damn thing into the office.

His first thought was Parker, naturally. She had said before they should get a team mascot. "Oooh what about a giraffe, or maybe a lion!" She was also the one who was enjoying having a pet the most. Parker had taken it upon herself to steal three cat beds, four cat dishes, five collars, two balls with bells in side, three catnip toys, a feather on a string, and what had to be at least two dozen laser pointers. Nate watched her play with the cat for a moment before deciding that she wasn't the one who snuck it in. Parker would see no reason to lie about it, she'd just bring the damn cat inside, say they had to keep it, and not take no for an answer. She had also been just as surprised as everyone else when the cat showed up, she was getting better at grifting but she wasn't that good when it came to trying to lie to the team. No, it wasn't Parker.

Nate's next suspect was Hardison, who was right now smiling and watching Parker play with the cat. Hardison had been surprised when they found the cat but then, so had everyone else. Nate didn't think Hardison would have had a reason to bring the cat in but watching him watch Parker made Nate reevaluate his first assumption. That solved the why but not the lie. If Hardison had snuck the cat in, he would have taken credit, he would want Parker to know he'd brought it in. He could have told just Parker but neither one of them were that great at keeping secrets, at least not small ones like this and not from the team. Nate sighed, it wasn't Hardison either.

That left Sophie and Eliot. Nate was pretty sure it wasn't Eliot, the man had done nothing but growl every time the cat got close to him or tried to go into his kitchen. Which is what the cat was doing now that it was done chasing Parker's laser pointer. Nate thought about it some more and it was starting to make sense. Sophie acted very motherly to the others, or at least Hardison and Parker, and bringing in a pet fell under that category. She would try to give that to Parker, that piece of childhood she'd never had. She had complained, at first, about cat hair getting on her clothes but then she was a grifter. She would know that complaining about the cat would make everyone doubt it was her who brought it in. The more he thought about it the more sure he was that she had done it.

Then Eliot carried the cat out from the kitchen, ten minutes after he had snuck in, and dropped him into Parker's lap.

"Keep the damn cat out of my kitchen." He growled before walking back into said kitchen, more testy that usual after his fight today. Nate was pretty sure he had a concussion.

Yes, it had to have been Sophie. Nate went back to his work, finally able to put the annoying thoughts of the cat to rest. He sat and he plotted how he and the team would take down the corrupt CEO. Parker left eventually, probably going to her warehouse. Hardison left not long after, finally done with whatever online game he had been playing. Nate barely noticed when Eliot walked over to the couch and laid down. It was a normal routine at this point, when Eliot was injured, with more than a few cuts and bruises anyway, he slept on the couch. He wouldn't ask for help and would refuse it if offered, but he stayed anyway.

A few hours later Nate looked at his watch and realized that it was late, much later than he realized, and decided to go to bed. He look at the couch and the blanket thrown over the back. He walked over and was about to drape the cover over Eliot when he saw the cat. The cat was not curled up in one of the three cat beds Parker had stolen but rather curled up quite comfortably with Eliot. Nate covered the sleeping man, who was really probably only pretending to sleep at this point because, let's face it, this is Eliot Spencer and he had probably woken up when Nate got up from his chair.

Nate looked at the Eliot for a moment longer before he shook his head and made his way upstairs. '_Should've known it was him from the beginning.'_ He thought as he made his way. Sophie would have adopted a cute kitten from shelter, not taken in a stray tom cat. She also would have admitted to bringing it in, she would want the attention. But Eliot, Eliot never wanted the attention. He was the lurker, he stayed in the background as much as he could. He _would_ bring in a stray tom cat. He would feed it then growl and take it out of the kitchen. And it seemed so obvious now. The cat tried to get close to Eliot every time the man sat still for more than five minutes. Eliot, of course, growled and pushed it way. The cat went into the kitchen no matter how many times Eliot carried it out and handed it off to Parker or Hardison. Nate was willing to bet that Eliot fed the cat every time it went in. He was certain it was Eliot and tomorrow, he was going to confirm it.

The next night, Nate wasn't sure exactly how to go about his plan of proving that Eliot had brought the cat in. He had been thinking about it all day and he still didn't have anything. He poured himself another drink and watched the others sitting on the couch. Sophie reading a magazine, Eliot a well-worn book. Parker was sitting closer to Hardison, watching him type rapidly on one of his _many_ laptops. And then the mastermind thought of the most obvious plan. Well most obvious besides asking Eliot but that was too easy and would never work.

"Hardison, can I borrow one your laptops for a moment?"

"I don't know man, last time I let one of ya'll use one of my babies, _someone_ felt the need to throw it at the wall."

"Let it go Hardison, I bought you a new one." Eliot said, obviously not bothered by the hacker's pointed statement.

"I won't break it, just wanna check out a theory."

"Fine, here, use this one, I'm done anyway." He said as he handed over the laptop and pulled out his cell phone.

Nate sat down and pulled up the security camera footage that Hardison's cameras recorded. He wasn't sure if he should be grateful for Hardison's need to have digital proof of everything or Eliot's paranoia for the fact that last Monday's footage was still there. It took him ten minutes to find the footage of Eliot picking up the cat and carrying it into the apartment, out of the rain. Nate smirked and looked at Eliot, who was absentmindedly petting the cat next to him. Who knew Eliot Spencer was cat person?

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Please review! Also I chose the name Toulouse cause that is my cat's name and he was named after one of the aristocats.


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